Harold Huth

{{Short description|British actor and film producer (1892–1967)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Harold Huth

| image = Harold_Huth.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = in A Honeymoon Adventure (1931)

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 20 January 1892

| birth_place = Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

| death_date = 26 October 1967

| death_place = London, England, United Kingdom

| othername =

| yearsactive = 1928–1961

| website =

}}

Harold Huth (20 January 1892 – 26 October 1967) was a British actor, film director and producer.{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/12573|title=Harold Huth|work=BFI|access-date=26 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030131441/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/12573|archive-date=30 October 2013|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.britishpictures.com/godfrey/card22.htm|title=Harold Huth|author=David Absalom|work=britishpictures.com}}

Biography

=Early life=

He was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in 1892. He was a nephew of Eva Moore and a cousin of the actor Roland Pertwee.

For the first eighteen years of his professional life, Huth worked in the motor business.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83889577 |title=THE OUTSIDER |newspaper=The Daily News |volume=L |issue=17,580 |location=Western Australia |date=11 September 1931 |access-date=26 October 2017 |page=8 (HOME (FINAL) EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Family=

Huth married Bridget Nickols and they had two daughters, Angela and Patricia.

=Actor=

Huth made his screen debut as an actor in the 1927 film One of the Best, directed by T. Hayes Hunter at Gainsborough Pictures. He got the role in part due to the connections of Pertwee.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94200614 |title=HAROLD HUTH SOLD MOTOR CARS |newspaper=Northern Star |volume=57 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=31 December 1932 |access-date=26 October 2017 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Huth followed it up with the role of Captain Nolan in the film Balaclava about the Charge of the Light Brigade.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/harold-huth-p95280|title=Harold Huth - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie|author=Sandra Brennan|work=AllMovie}}{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6f13c4bf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712174935/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6f13c4bf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-12|title=Balaclava (1928)|work=BFI}}

Huth went on to have roles in A South Sea Bubble (1928) with Ivor Novello, directed by Hunter; The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1928) with Matheson Lang, playing Louis Antoine de Saint-Just; and The Silver King (1929), directed by Hunter, with Percy Marmont and Chili Bouchier.

Huth made his stage acting debut aged 36 on stage in The Truth Game with Ivor Novello. Raymond Massey then cast him opposite Fay Compton in Dishonored Lady.

Huth had the male lead in Downstream (1929) opposite Chili Bouchier, directed by Giuseppe Guarino. Huth made a third film with Bouchier, City of Play (1929).

Huth had roles in Leave It to Me (1930); An Obvious Situation (1930), directed by Guarino; Guilt (1931), directed by Reginald Fogwell; and Bracelets (1931).

Huth starred in The Outsider (1930) on stage. Edgar Wallace wrote the play Smoky Cell (1931) for Huth."Harold Huth: A Forceful Actor" Bristol, O. Picture Show; London Vol. 27, Iss. 689, (Jul 16, 1932): 22.

He had the lead in The Outsider (1931), alongside Joan Barry, receiving much acclaim.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41314108 |title=BRITISH PICTURES IN 1936. |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=53 |issue=15,904 |location=Western Australia |date=18 June 1937 |access-date=26 October 2017 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

He had a key support part in Down River (1931) with Charles Laughton.

Huth's first screenplay credit was in Madame Guillotine (1931), starring Madeleine Carroll, and directed by Fogwell.

Huth acted in A Honeymoon Adventure (1931); Adventure (1931); Aren't We All? (1932) with Gertrude Lawrence; and The First Mrs. Fraser (1932).""TALKIE" PERSONALITIES: (132) HAROLD HUTH" Picture Show; London Vol. 27, Iss. 685, (Jun 18, 1932): 23.

He had the lead in The Flying Squad (1932); Sally Bishop (1932), directed by Hunter; and The World, the Flesh, the Devil (1932). Huth had support parts in Rome Express (1932); Discord (1932); My Lucky Star (1933), with Florence Desmond; The Ghoul (1933), with Boris Karloff and directed by Hunter; and The Camels Are Coming (1934) with Jack Hulbert.

Huth quit acting to become head of casting for Gaumont British. He returned to acting briefly with a small role in Take My Tip (1937) with Hulbert.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201226611 |title=Jack Hulbert Quite Stage. |newspaper=The Evening News |issue=4542 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=22 January 1937 |access-date=26 October 2017 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Director and Producer=

Huth directed his first film, Hell's Cargo (1939), for Associated British Picture Corporation. He followed it with Bulldog Sees It Through (1940) starring Jack Buchanan, and East of Piccadilly (1941).

Huth also moved into producing with Busman's Honeymoon (1940), shot in Britain for MGM starring Robert Montgomery.

He worked as producer on "Pimpernel" Smith (1941) for Leslie Howard{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167430940 |title=LESLIE HOWARD HAS FOUR ROLES IN HIS NEW FILM |newspaper=The Newcastle Sun |issue=7252 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=15 March 1941 |access-date=26 October 2017 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} and over at British Mercury he co-directed Breach of Promise (1942). Huth returned to acting in This Was Paris (1942) and MGM got him to produce another in England, The Adventures of Tartu (1943).

=Gainsborough Pictures=

Huth joined Gainsborough Pictures, for whom he produced a melodrama, Love Story (1944), with Margaret Lockwood, Stewart Granger and Patricia Roc; it was a huge commercial success."GAUMONT-BRITISH PICTURE: INCREASED NET PROFIT" The Observer [London] 4 Nov 1945: 3. Also popular were They Were Sisters (1945), with James Mason and Caravan (1946) with Granger.Gaumont-British Picture: Increased Net Profit, The Observer, 4 November 1945{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59472238 |title=Britain's Best Films |newspaper=Sunday Times (Perth) |issue=2556 |location=Western Australia |date=16 February 1947 |access-date=26 October 2017 |page=12 (SUPPLEMENT TO THE SUNDAY TIMES) |via=National Library of Australia}} Huth's last film for Gainsborough as producer, The Root of All Evil (1947), with Phyllis Calvert, was less successful.

=Independent producer=

Huth's success at Gainsborough saw him receive an offer to set up his own company, Harold Huth Productions with John Corfield. He produced The White Unicorn (1947) with fellow Gainsborough alumni Lockwood and Bernard Knowles and produced and directed Nightbeat (1947).

Huth and Corfeld then helped set up Burnham Productions where Huth produced and directedMy Sister and I (1948), with Sally Ann Howes, and Look Before You Love (1948) with Margaret Lockwood.

=Later career=

Huth produced Blackmailed (1951), directed by Marc Allégret, in which he also had a small role. He also appeared in Sing Along with Me (1952).

Huth directed for television, notably Douglas Fairbanks Presents (1953–57). He and Fairbanks produced Police Dog (1955) and The Hostage (1956); Huth directed the latter.

Huth went to work as an associate producer at Warwick Films for Irwin Allen and Albert Broccoli, helping make The Man Inside (1958), Idol on Parade (1959), The Bandit of Zhobe (1959), Jazz Boat (1960), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) and In the Nick (1961). He was credited as a writer on The Hellions (1961). He retired in 1961.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/harold-huth/credits/153110/|title=Harold Huth|work=TVGuide.com}} He and Peter Finch did discuss making a film about Oliver Cromwell but it was not made."Entertainment: Sinatra May Star Dorothy Provine Martin, Lawford Also in Cast; Foreign Press Night Reported" Hopper, Hedda. Los Angeles Times 20 Mar 1961: C10.